In our series of why teams have moved from one city to another, we’ve already looked at a few good examples. We’ve already covered why the St. Louis Hawks moved to Atlanta, as well as why the Fort Wayne Pistons packed up and moved to Detroit.
In our series, we’ve also covered the franchise that made the biggest move: The Minneapolis Lakers moving to Los Angeles. In this article, we’ll discuss another franchise that decided to move to Los Angeles, but this team hasn’t seen the type of success as their Lakers counterparts.
Yes, in this week’s edition, we’ll explain why the Buffalo Braves first moved to San Diego to become the Clippers. Then, moved to LA to play in the same city as the Lakers.
Stick around, and you’ll see why it was a controversial move by an owner who’d make headlines in the future for more controversy.
The Buffalo Braves And Their Move To San Diego
Like many of the other franchises we’ve talked about in this series, the San Diego Clippers got their start somewhere else before moving to San Diego. In this case, the team was founded in Buffalo, New York, and went by the name the Braves.
The Buffalo Braves were founded in 1970 as an expansion team by Neuberger Loeb, an investment group from New York City. Like most expansion teams, the Braves struggled their first few seasons in the NBA.
After two straight 22-60 seasons, the Braves would win one less game (21) in their third season, but they would see some good come their way. The team drafted Bob McAdoo second overall in the 1972 NBA Draft.
McAdoo would win the Rookie of the Award with averages of 18.0 points and 9.1 rebounds per game. By McAdoo’s second, his scoring average rose to 30.6, which led the league, and the Braves finished with a 42-40 record.
The Braves made their first postseason in franchise history as the fourth seed but fell 4-2 to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The Braves would make the playoffs the next two seasons, and McAdoo would win the league’s MVP award during the 1974-75 season.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW-_D_UsgDI
While the team was seeing some success, attendance at games was rising, and TV ratings of the games were inching closer to the league’s average. Despite this, there was an ever-growing pressure to sell the team to get out of Buffalo.
The main reason for this was because of competition with another basketball team and a hockey team that played in Buffalo. The Canisius Golden Griffins men’s basketball team from Canisius College in Buffalo played at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, the same arena as the Braves.
The Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League (NHL) also played at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. When it came to scheduling home games, Canisius College would get first choice, and next, the Sabres would choose their home games.
This made it extremely difficult for the Braves to schedule their home games, and it was wearing on the ownership. In 1976, ownership sold the Braves to John Y. Brown Jr., the man responsible for turning Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) into a multimillion-dollar restaurant chain.
Before the 1978-79 season, John Y. Brown Jr. made a deal with Boston Celtics owner, Irv Levin, to swap franchises. Levin wanted to move the Celtics to California, where he was from but knew the NBA would not allow the Celtics to leave Boston.
So, the two would swap teams, and Levin would move the Braves to San Diego, renaming them the Clippers, in reference to San Diego being known for having great sailing ships passing through the San Diego Bay.
The San Diego Clippers’ Controversial Move To Los Angeles
The new franchise, the San Diego Clippers, failed to reach the playoffs in its first three seasons, compiling 43, 35, and 36 wins, respectively.
The San Diego Clippers did sign a former MVP and champion in Bill Walton, but injuries plagued him during his time in San Diego. The 1981-82 season would see the team’s wins drop drastically as they only won 17 games, but something big did occur before the start of the season.
Levin sold his Clippers to real estate developer and attorney Donald Sterling for $12.5 million. Sterling is from Los Angeles, and he wanted to move his new franchise to the City of Angels.
This was even more true since the attendance for games in San Diego was only about 4,500 fans per game. Sterling was ready to get his team in front of the bright lights of Hollywood, and nothing was going to stop him… Including the NBA.
In 1984, Sterling moved the Clippers to Los Angeles without the approval of the NBA. The league then fined Sterling $25 for moving the team to LA, and Sterling fired back by suing the NBA for $100 million.
Sterling would eventually drop the suit when the NBA agreed to lower the fine to $6 million. The Clippers are the only franchise in NBA history to move to a new city without the NBA’s approval.
Sterling may have gotten away with getting what he wanted over the NBA, but in 2014, recordings of Sterling making racist statements in a 2013 phone call were made public. This led to the NBA fining Sterling $2.5 million and giving him a lifetime ban, which meant the team was forcing him to sell the Clippers.
On August 12, 2014, the Clippers were sold to Steve Ballmer, the former chief executive officer of Microsoft. The franchise appears to be running smoother with Ballmer as the owner than it had in all of Sterling’s years.
There you have it. You now know why the Buffalo Braves moved to San Diego and how the San Diego Clippers made the controversial move to Los Angeles. The Clippers in LA have not won an NBA championship, as they hadn’t in San Diego or Buffalo.
Maybe this season will be the Los Angeles Clippers’ chance to win the franchise’s first title. If Kawhi Leonard and Paul George can stay healthy, the Clippers have a real shot at making this a reality.
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